Re: GPL vs. sweatshops (was Re: Bias)

On Tue, 11 Jun 2002, Roland wrote:

> Deven I'm impressed with the amount of text you write. Your emails are 
> among the biggest sent to this list.

  "I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had
  the time to make it shorter."       - Blaise Pascal, Provincial Letters

I'd rather write something shorter, but it takes even more effort to 
condense it if there's a lot to be said.  If I simply say less, the odds
of being misinterpreted by someone are much higher.  Even writing at
length, people have managed to misinterpret repeatedly...

> Personally I don't read an email if it is too long unless it is directed 
> to me or it is really interesting.

Well, I thought it was an interesting debate.  To each his own.  ;-)

> So as an advice to spare time I recommend writing shorter. Sum up the 
> main ideas in a few sentences.

Unfortunately, when you're dealing with articles of faith (e.g. an all-GPL 
world would be wonderful), it's nearly impossible to shake that conviction 
with just a few sentences.

> There is also a good article on learning to quote efficiently, some might 
> benefit from it, but I don't have the url anymore...and I'm not saying 
> you have a problem with that...

The fact that you bring it up suggests you think I do.  I try to only quote 
what I'm responding to, so that anyone who reads my reply without having 
read the original can still make sense of the context.  If I could assume 
that everyone had been keeping up all along, much less context would be 
needed for orientation, but as you pointed out, people often skip the long 
messages entirely.  As it is, I try to avoid nested quoting when possible, 
unless it seems necessary for context.

Deven